Jun 21, 2010

Pill in His Coffee

What a great story I heard.  A rebbi told a father that he could not handle his son, he was impossible.  The father said, but he sits nicely at home ... The rebbi wasn't interested, it was either get him Ritalin or he's out of the school.  The father said he couldn't afford it and the rebbi said raise the money.  The father, seeing he had no choice, said there's one more problem.  My wife and I leave early in the morning and we won't be able to ensure he gets the medication at the same time every morning.  The rebbi said that's no problem, I'll take care of it.  I'll send him to the teachers' room to make me a coffee and to take his medicine.

Two months go by and the child is doing beautifully.  One day, the father asks his son how things are going at school.  The child said, terrific! Better than ever.

The father asks, is there anything you can attribute this to? The son says, I don't know but the only thing that is different is that every day, after davening, rebbi asks me to make him a coffee and to take this pill, so every day I make him coffee and put the pill in. 

The question asked of R' Yitzchok Zilberstein was - does the teacher have to reimburse the father for the medication!

Should we laugh or cry?

How many parents are coerced into drugging their children in order to placate school staff? What a crime!
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1 comment:

  1. rosieJune 21, 2010 at 3:14 PM

    There are schools that have a large percentage of children on ritalin. It is hard to believe that that many of them have a medical reason to take the drug. If the school is making the child sick, the parents would be better off home schooling the child. I know a family who recently took all of their children out of a day school that was making one of their children sick. They now homeschool and the secular studies online are FREE! They pay a pretty penny for the Jewish studies though and hopefully there will soon be cheaper ways to homeschool.

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